Smugglers are similar to traders except that they sell goods where it is illegal, on the black market. Smugglers have to use stealth, cunning, and special equipment to outwit the Police and sometimes military authorities, especially around stations, to sell their goods at a profit while escaping fines and a criminal record. Smugglers can also be a special case of couriers, where the player is asked to transport forbidden items.

When dealing in stolen items looted from wrecks or from piracy, smuggling is also essential as cargo is tagged and detection of stolen goods on a ship will carry consequences as well. For this reason, most pirates are also typically skilled in smuggling items into stations.

Contents

Smuggling can be done in four ways, steal illicit cargo, pirate ships, transport wanted criminals or other secretive passengers, or buy goods that are allowed in one system and station, and sell it in another system where it is prohibited.

Buying goods from one system to another is usually between Empire and independent stations using Imperial Slaves, but other goods and commodities are also profitable.

If you are caught transporting wanted criminals, the penalty is very severe. If you are scanned with a criminal on board an immediate bounty is placed on you and if you are inside a station when that bounty gets placed it means instant death. Many commanders have lost their ship to space station cannons whilst transporting wanted criminals.

The goal is simple: enter the station without your hold being scanned by either players or police forces. There are multiple ways to get inside of a station without being scanned, which differ based on pilot skill, ship type, and station. It is far easier to smuggle in a smaller vessel, and larger ships will find the task to be not only difficult without detection, but extremely dangerous to the ship.

Ship loadout

The important thing with smuggling is to get your ship under 20% heat, this reduces the range that other ships can scan giving you a larger window to fly through.

If you have access the following Engineer blue prints, they will aid your smuggling

Low Emissions Power Plant (Roll high Heat Efficiency)

Clean Drive Tuning (Roll low: Power Draw)

Life support (secondary Roll: Low Power Draw)

Enhanced, Low Power Shields (Roll low: Power Draw)

If you use shields to protect your hull from damage while docking (to prevent your passengers from complaining for example) the lightest powered shields will allow your ship to run cooler. This is based on power draw, the less power your shields use the cooler your ship will run, but conversely the weaker your shields will be. It's more efficient in terms of shield strength per Watt to use E or D rated shields, than to use A rated of a class below.

Have as few systems as possible, every system you fit is another system to turn off before you dock and another system to turn on again once you are clear of the station.

When at an Outpost station and on Planets

When landing at an outpost, or on a planet, you do not have a mail-slot that stops your scan. To be un-scannable in these situations you must land and retract your ship underground. Outposts in general have low occurrences of patrol ships. If there are patrol ships, enter supercruise fly a little bit then return the chances are the patrol ships will have left the area. Planetary landings usually come supplied with patrol ships flying around the surface near the space port. The number will depend on the Security rating of the system you are in.

There is significantly more risk in smuggling to outposts and planets, it is preferred to smuggle to starport stations.

Note that there is significant controversy over the effectiveness of the following technique, given that law enforcement officers tend to fly with very high end scanning equipment, able to detect you when your heat levels are incredibly low*

At maximum range (7.5km) request docking clearance. Approach station from the side with the docking slot, as lined up as possible, and be sure that no large ships will be in your way. Be sure that you don't draw too close during this process.

Disable all but the following modules: Life Support, Thrusters. Allow your ship to cool below 20% heat if possible. A Heatsink Launcher aids in this.

Head towards the docking slot at speed. As soon as possible, engage Silent Running (Delete key by default). This closes the heat vents on your ship to help hide it, but makes heat build-up inside; this is why we allowed the ship to cool. 'Ship Scan Detected' does not mean the scan was completed. Scanning takes a moment, and if you enter the docking ring or escape before it can be completed, the scan will fail (thus no fine or reputation loss).

Enter the docking bay, disable silent running, and slow down as quickly as you can. Your shields will be offline, so any impact can easily cripple or destroy you.

A sufficiently-skilled pilot is able to accomplish the task of entering the station without any special preparations, by requesting docking at a distance and then entering the station at considerable speed. This method is, when performed by a skilled pilot, by far the fastest and most likely to succeed, but carries the highest consequence when failed: impact with the station and immediate destruction.

If System Authority Vessels finish a scan on the player's ship while it is holding illegal or stolen cargo they will be fined and their reputation with the star system's controlling faction will drop. It is recommended to not smuggle in systems where the controlling faction is one that you want to continue to be friendly with.

If you are caught transporting wanted criminals, the penalty is very severe. If you are scanned with a criminal on board an immediate bounty is placed on you. If you are inside a station when that bounty gets placed it means instant death.

In the vast majority of cases, NPC ships will not be able to finish any scan they've started once you are inside of the docking ring, however, players can continue to scan you through the station if they so choose. It is also important to note that once landed and have entered the hangar, you are safe. You are scannable when you have touched-down on your pad, but not once you "enter hangar/go down".